You Can Never Stop Caring
by jsspn1417
Summary: Growing up in a small unknown town is hard enough, but when you realize you are from a line of werewolves your world is thrown out of proportion. And the word about a Hybrid, vampire and werewolf cross, killing werewolves isn't helping either...


Swiftwater is a little town with boring shops, boring schools, boring people, and, oh, well, would you count everyone's obsession boring too? I do. There's the talk of werewolves here and there and everyone seems to believe these monsters exist. I'm the only one that seems not to. I'd rather deal with the real world and its problems than some backwards European legend.

My name's Kate Dolph and I live with my mom, Jane. My mom and dad are divorced, but my father still lives in town. I like living with my mother more than my poor excuse for a father. My father drinks and gambles away every cent he has. Oh, and can someone spell abusive? There's no wonder my mom divorced him, but a part of me does feel bad for him. I don't understand why he would make this kind of life for himself. It's horrible – he needs help, and he has refused every bit of help we give him through our pity.

Well enough of my father – onto my school. My school is much every typical public high. I'm a senior and right in the middle of the chain when it comes to cliques. I am friends with some the popular kids, like my friends Sam, captain of the girls varsity basketball team, and Laurie, short-stop for the girls varsity softball team. I am one of the oldest kids in my grade, and I find myself the most mature by a landslide. The school is full of drinkers and druggies-

"Miss Dolph!"

Ah, speaking of school.

I turned back to look at my AP History teacher, a short and skinny woman with a bony face and gray hair. A pair of spectacles – no really, she wants us to call them that – were pushed up on her face. Her mouth was always screwed into a lemon-sour frown – Lemon-Sour, hey, I like that – and the wrinkles gave off her ancient age. "What year was the attack on Constantinople?"

I laid my chin in the palm of my hand and said, "1182," before receiving an approving nod of Miss Lemon-Sour's head. I don't really care for names all too much when it came down to teachers I would only have for one semester.

One of my classmates snickered in the back of the classroom and I turned my head to see two of the football players talking and from the movement of their eyes and position of their bodies, I knew they were talking about me.

"Mr. Gray, do you have something to say?" asked Miss Lemon-Sour, the question toward the blonde boy in the varsity jacket who was 'good-looking' to some but not to me. In my eyes he was just a mindless brute dick who had no right to be in AP History.

Gray looked up at Miss Lemon-Sour before innocently replying, "We're just talking about what a wonderful teacher you are, Ms. Donald. We're learning so much."

Ms. Donald did not look convinced, and she surely didn't sound it, "Stop with your brown-nosing and pay more attention." I smiled confidently. "You could learn a thing or two from Miss Dolph." And, that's when my smile disappeared. That was my pet peeve – I hated being talked about by teachers who say I'm the example to follow.

Gray turned in my direction, a smirk on his face. My eyes met his in a glare, his eyes narrowed evenly with his smirk. Wise ass.

And finally when the bell rang, I pushed all my books into my arms and hurried out of the classroom, heading for my free period. It was the senior free period that we got twice a week. I pushed my books into my locker and grabbed my sketchbook, walking to the courtyard.

I took my usual seat on one of the benches in the sunshine while the other seniors dispersed into their cliques. I just opened my sketchbook to continue working on the portrait of a wolf I had been working on for a few days. Every now and again, as I stopped for a short one-minute break, I would look up and around.

It wasn't even fifteen minutes into the period when I felt like many eyes were boring into me. I raised my head to notice the popular kids turned in my direction, all focused on me. I wrinkled my noise and looked back down at my sketchbook, shrugging it off. I hated when they looked at me – made me feel like they were talking nonsense rumors about me.

And not five minutes later did I see Sam approach me, the tall girl only a few inches above me. Sam was a bit like me – brown hair and green eyes at a height of six feet and two inches. Tall for a girl – no wonder she was the basketball super star.

She took a seat next to me and I looked at her, confusion on my face. I didn't mind her sitting next to me, but there had to be a reason behind it.

"What's up?" She asked with one of her genuine smiles, turning to me.

"Um…" I whispered, the look of confusion still on my face.

"We're having a party next week," That wasn't surprising. "Would you like to join us?" Wait a minute…

"Wait…" Go back a minute, "You want _me_ to come to a party of _yours_?" I blinked, taken aback by Sam's request. I thought she was going to ask me to join the basketball team – yeah, something silly like that.

I couldn't help but turn to look at the popular kids who still looked at me, and seemed to expect something from me.

"Yeah," Sam said and I looked at her, my confusion still visible.

"Why? What's the catch?" I asked.

Sam's brows furrowed. "Catch?"

"Yeah, why are you inviting _me_?" I was dead serious. I wasn't even trying to sound like a bitch either.

"Should there be a reason?" Sam asked, innocently. "We don't want you to think of us as bad people." Oh, too late. "Just give us a chance." Oh god, Sam and her ability to make people feel bad.

I looked away with a heavy sigh. "When is it?"

"Friday night at Gray's house. I promise he won't be a dick," Sam responded. Yeah, that would be a miracle to see – Gray not being a dick.

I looked back at Sam. "I'll see if I can make it," I said after a long pause.

"Great!" Sam jumped to her feet, a smile across her face. "I hope to see you there."

"Mhm," I whispered, just watching as she walked back to her group. They were still focused on me as I turned away.


End file.
